Texas A&M Aggies: DeLoss Dodds

The team I wanted to see face Alabama last season in the BCS National Championship was Oregon. It's the matchup the entire country wanted to see.

No offense, Notre Dame fans, but seeing that high-octane Oregon offense go up against Alabama's defense would have made for much better theater than what we ended up getting in South Florida in January.

Which nonconference matchup involving an SEC school would be the most attractive?

31%

Alabama vs. Oregon

18%

Florida vs. Ohio State

8%

LSU vs. Notre Dame

15%

South Carolina vs. USC

28%

Texas A&M vs. Texas

(Total votes: 11,201)

Wouldn't it be great if you could play college football matchmaker and turn some of these dream match-ups into realities during the season?

We've come up with five such matchups and want you to select which one would be the most attractive by voting in our SportsNation poll.

Alabama versus Oregon is one of the choices. Who knows? Maybe we'll finally get to see the Ducks and Tide square off in the final BCS National Championship before we go to a playoff in 2014.

Think Florida versus Ohio State would stir a few emotions with Urban Meyer taking on his old team? It would be the battle of Meyer's two dream jobs. Come to think of it, is it possible to have two dream jobs? In Meyer's world, you can.

I realize that Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds, in all of his arrogance, said recently that Texas gets to decide when Texas and Texas A&M play again. Ask anybody in that state, and it can't be soon enough. Surely we'll see those two old rivals playing again sooner rather than later.

Here's one for you: South Carolina and Steve Spurrier going up against Lane Kiffin and the West Coast version of USC. Spurrier's not the biggest Kiffin fan. Then again, who in the SEC is? Something says the buildup to that game could be as entertaining as the game itself.

Finally, LSU and Notre Dame played 10 times between 1970 and 2006 and are all knotted up, 5-5. It's time to break the tie. Talk about two of the best fight songs in all of college sports and two programs steeped in tradition.

Well, you have the rundown. Tell us which matchup you'd most like to see, and we'll go over results next week.

Last season was the first in almost a century that Texas and Texas A&M didn't play, and speaking personally, Thanksgiving weekend just didn't seem the same without the two Lone Star rivals going head to head.

Texas A&M has been outspoken about a sort of anywhere, anytime, anyplace attitude toward resuming the rivalry, but Texas, who won the final game in 2011 on a last-second field goal, is taking a rather arrogant approach to when the next game will happen.

“They left,” Dodds said. “They're the ones that decided not to play us. We get to decide when we play again. I think that's fair. If you did a survey of our fans about playing A&M, they don't want to. It's overwhelming. I know. I hear it. Our fans are important to us. I think there's got to be a period where things get different. I think there's too many hard feelings.”

Hey-oh! Dodds is in a power position here and doesn't sound like he has many plans to let anyone forget that. As for why this game isn't being played, it depends on who you listen to. There's merit to both sides, and it's a perfect situation in which either side feels completely comfortable blaming the other.

Should Texas A&M and Texas renew their rivalry soon?

73%

Yes

27%

No

(Total votes: 20,246)

Texas warned A&M when it was considering a move to the SEC: "Leave and this rivalry is over."

Texas A&M has been consistent throughout the saga: "We'll play you anytime, you're the ones providing the rivalry's death blow and refusing to play."

The truth is where it usually is: Right in the middle. Texas A&M decided SEC membership was more important than its rivalry with Texas. Texas decided keeping its word (and its pride) was more important than showing that its warning to the Aggies was an empty threat.

The Longhorns have the bragging rights, and that certainly will extend the period in which these two teams won't play. Dodds says the two teams will play "sometime," but anyone who thinks that time will come under Dodds' watch is out of their mind.